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This absorbing biography, often conveyed through Peter Selz's own words, traces the journey of a Jewish-German immigrant from Hitler's Munich to the United States and on to an important career as a pioneer historian of modern art. Paul J. Karlstrom illuminates key historical and cultural events of the twentieth-century as he describes Selz's extraordinary career-from Chicago's Institute of Design (New Bauhaus), to New York's Museum of Modern Art during the transformative 1960s, and as founding director of the University Art Museum at UC Berkeley. Karlstrom sheds light on the controversial viewpoints that at times isolated Selz from his colleagues but nonetheless affirmed his conviction that significant art was always an expression of deep human experience. The book also links Selz's long life story-featuring close relationships with such major art figures as Mark Rothko, Dore Ashton, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, and Christo-with his personal commitment to political engagement.

Vibrant

This autobiography is a very rich portrait of a man's life. Peter Selz had an extraordinary career and this book provides an insight into the art universe and those who orbit the artistic sun. People like Selz are much needed interpretors and translators of art and its emotion, and reading this it is clear that he had an understanding like no other. The Karlstroms do a wonderful job of showing how much Selz contributed, and setting his actions in the political and social contexts.